Belvedere, 1990
GPE-0072
Lithograph and collage
Fabriano
70 x 50 cm
Titled, signed, and dated on the recto: “Belvedere” (bottom centre), “Giulio Paolini 1990” (bottom right)
Autograph numbering on the recto, bottom left
20 in Arabic numerals from 1/20 to 20/20
10 in Roman numerals from I/X to X/X
Marco Noire Editore, Turin
The cut-out figure of Sleeping Narcissus – taken from Nicolas Poussin's Echo et Narcisse (c. 1630) – can be seen reclining at the top of a sphere made up of an ensemble of planets.
In Greek mythology, Narcissus is a handsome youth who, after rejecting every love proposal, falls in love with his own reflection in a fountain; in his attempt to touch his own image he falls into the water and drowns. Similarly, in Paolini's poetics, astral iconography is a model of incomparable perfection, represented here symbolically by the sphere of planets suggesting a panoramic point of view. A “belvedere”, as the title tells us, which harkens back to the author's untiring attempt to grasp with his gaze the unapproachable dimension of the Absolute.
The print is part of the first examples of the “belvedere” theme, developed starting from 1989-90 in different techniques and numerous variants, whose common denominator was the sphere of planets associated with a mythological figure, or a young man about to blow soap bubbles (cf. among the prints GPE-0079, among the works on paper GPC-0774, GPC-0775, GPC-0967, GPC-0801, GPC-2246, GPC-0802, GPC-0804, GPC-0831, GPC-0833, GPC-0834).
The original collage on which the print is based is documented in the online Catalogue Raisonné of the works on paper at number GPC-0776.
Figure: Nicolas Poussin, Écho et Narcisse, c. 1630, oil on canvas, 74 x 100 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris; reproduction from L’opera completa di Poussin. Classici dell’arte 72 (Milan: Rizzoli, 1974), plate X, no. 49.
| 1992 | Bonn, Bonner Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Werk 1967-1992, 24 February - 29 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 73). |
| 1993 | Winterthur, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das druckgraphische Werk 1967-1992, 16 January - 7 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 73). |
| 1995 | Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Múltiplos e Obra Gráfica 1969-1995, 16 March - 28 May, col. repr. in the exhibition brochure (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 73). |
| 1996 | Apolda, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques, 27 September - 27 October (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 73). |
| 1997 | Göppingen, Kunsthalle, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Druckwerk 1967-1995, 9 March - 13 April (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 73). |
| 2001 | Milan, Association Jacqueline Vodoz et Bruno Danese, Impressions Graphiques. L’opera grafica di Giulio Paolini, 1967-2000, 17 May - 22 June, not repr. |
| 2002 | Paris, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Impressions graphiques. L’œuvre graphique de Giulio Paolini 1967-2000, 23 April - 21 May, no catalogue. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 73, col. repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 667 p. 681, not repr. |
| • | Carte Noire. Noire Editions 1980/2015 (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2016), col. repr. n. pag. (artist’s proof). |
